‘A bra?’ Finley asked.
‘Yeah. Hers.’ He looked at Vivian. ‘I only just… borrowed it.’
Vivian grimaced, but only for an instant. She managed a smile. ‘That’s fine, Jim. You can have it.’
‘Ain’t got it no more, anyhow. Hank took it off me.’ His lips started to tremble. ‘He made me tell where I got it.’
‘When was this?’ Finley asked.
‘Last night. I didn’t wanta tell, but he made me. I knew he’d come over. I figured he’d kill ya all. But he only just got the fat one. I sure wish he hadn’t.’ Jim started to weep. ‘I tried to scare ya off… ya just wouldn’t go. He’s… gonna get the rest of ya if ya stay, too. Ya gotta go.'
Jim lifted the knife away from Abilene’s throat, then leaned away from her. As she sat up, he let the knife fall to the ground. He knelt there, head down.
Abilene braced herself up. She was glad to get her back off the ground. It itched horribly, but she felt too exhausted to do anything about it.
Every muscle in her body seemed to be trembling. Her skin, dripping with sweat, was rough with goosebumps like before. She noticed that her nipples were erect. Great, she thought. She glanced up at Finley and Vivian. They were staring at her, frowning. She expected a remark from Finley.
‘All that blood better be his,’ Finley said.
‘Yeah,’ she muttered, glancing at her outstretched legs. They were smeared bright red. ‘All his.’
‘Did he do anything to you?’ Vivian asked.
‘We… just wrestled.’ She wanted to tug her skirt down to cover her panties, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. ‘I think… all he wanted was to get away.’
‘What’ll we do with him?’ Finley asked.
‘Let him go,’ Vivian said.
‘That doesn’t seem like such a hot idea,’ Finley said. She crouched and picked up the knife she’d dropped. ‘No telling what he might do.’
‘I won’t do nothing,’ Jim said, his voice high and shaky.
‘He’s hurt,’ Abilene explained. ‘I got him in the leg with my knife. And bit his head.’
‘Are you all right?’ Vivian asked her.
‘I’ll live. But my back. Itches like crazy.’ She knew it must be scratched some and littered with bits of field debris clinging to her skin. Vivian crouched, wadding the blouse. Figuring what she had in mind, Abilene shoved at the ground and leaned forward. Vivian began to rub her back with the blouse.
Abilene moaned as the itching faded to mild soreness.
‘Hey!’ Cora’s voice.
Abilene looked up and saw her at the edge of the field, standing on one leg, propped up by the shotgun.
‘What’s going on?’ Cora yelled.
‘Everything’s okay,’ Abilene answered. ‘We’ll be over in a minute.’ Vivian gave the blouse to her. Putting it on, she looked over at Jim. He still had his head down. She picked up the knife. ‘You can leave if you want. I’m sorry about… going after you. Hurting you.’
He wiped his eyes and looked at her. ‘I don’t blame ya none.’
‘All the same… I thought you’d killed our friend.’
‘How do we know he didn’t?’ Finley said.
‘I believe him,’ Vivian said.
‘He could’ve cut my throat,’ Abilene explained. To Jim, she said, ‘If you want to come along with us, that’s fine. We’ve got a first-aid kit at the car. We can bandage you up.’
‘Okay,’ he muttered.
Abilene stood up. She straightened her skirt. She slipped her feet into the moccasins that Vivian had brought for her, then took a drink from the water bottle.
Jim got slowly to his feet. He winced when he put weight on his left leg. Bending over, he clutched the back of his thigh.
‘Can you walk?’ Vivian asked him.
He gave it a try. Hand clamped to the wound, he took a few hobbling steps. The back of his injured leg was sheathed with blood. Some had gotten onto his good leg as well.
Abilene expected to find blood all over his hair and neck and back, but there was none. Apparently, she hadn’t bitten his scalp hard enough to break the skin.
Of course not, she thought. I would’ve gotten it all over my face.
Finley took over the lead, walking backward, holding the knife at her side and keeping her eyes on Jim. Abilene and Vivian walked behind him.
Cora, up ahead, had lowered herself to the ground. When the others got to her, she asked Abilene, ‘Are you okay?’
‘The blood’s his. I got him in the leg.’
‘He didn’t hurt you?’
‘No, I’m fine.’
Finley gave her the water bottle and she took a long drink.
‘He says his brother’s the one who killed Helen,’ Finley said.
‘A likely story,’ Cora said.
‘He could’ve killed me, but he didn’t.’
‘He knows I would’ve nailed him,’ Finley said.
‘I think he told the truth,’ Vivian said. ‘He admitted throwing our stuff in the pool last night. He said it was to scare us away so his brother wouldn’t get us.’
‘Where was this “brother” then?’ Cora asked.
‘Back home,’ Jim explained.
‘The thing is,’ Abilene said, ‘the brother apparently didn’t know we were at the lodge until later last night. He caught Jim with Vivian’s bra.’
‘Fuckin’ pervert,’ Finley said.
Jim stood there with his head down, his hand clasped to the back of his leg.
‘I never even noticed it was missing,’ Vivian said. She sounded apologetic, as if she blamed herself for luring the killer to the lodge.
‘The brother took it from him,’ Abilene continued, ‘and made him tell where he’d gotten it. Apparently, he beat Jim up.’ She flapped a hand toward the dark blotches on Jim’s stomach. ‘That’s how you got those bruises, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah,’ he murmured.
‘How do we know Helen didn’t do that to him?’ Finley said.
‘I never hurt nobody.’
‘That’s what you keep telling us.’
‘What were you doing at the lodge in the first place?’ Cora asked him.
‘Isn’t that obvious?’ Finley said.
‘It’s… I just like to go there. It’s quiet ’n nice ’n… I go there all the time. Just to swim and stuff. Ain’t nobody ever there. Till yesterday.’
‘And you liked what you saw,’ Finley said, ‘so you came sneaking back last night.’
‘That ain’t it. Figured ya’d be gone. But when I seen ya was still there, I tried to scare ya off. Hank, he goes there sometimes. He’s crazy. He’ll go and stay the whole night, sometimes. It’s ’cause he done stuff there when he was just a kid… killed some folks ’n… done stuff to gals. He likes to… stay in the lodge ’n run it all through his head. Ya hear him, ya’d think it was just the finest thing ever… what he done that night. So I knowed what he’d do if he come across ya. That’s how come I thrown your things in the water. Just to spook ya off.’
‘If you were worried that way,’ Abilene said, ‘why didn’t you just come out and talk to us, explain the situation?’
‘I don’t know,’ he muttered.
‘He was having too much fun,’ Finley said.
